Another thank you

It’s especially pleasing when someone new comments as several people have done recently.  I thought that I’d give their blogs, along with one other, a mention by way of another thank you. 

Hannah’s Potager Pottering and Crime is, as she says, all about life on an Irish farm in all it’s idiosyncratic glory.  I also notice that, like me, she has a slight tea drinking habit.

Lynda’s Slate To Plate – Plot 16 is all about her organic gardening on an allotment in a small slate mining village in the Welsh mountains. I see that, like me, she likes to play in the dirt.

Paula’s Spoons ‘n’ Spades is all about her garden in West London. This is my sort of garden, being informal and packed with plants.  I note that she has three furry helpers – Maisie, Misty and Milo.

Suzie hasn’t commented here but is a friend on Twitter, as Paperviolet,  and her new blog Paperviolet is where she elegantly writes about working in an Oxfordshire garden for Alzheimer’s sufferers to enjoy. 

I’ve really enjoyed looking at these, and have now added them to my list of lawn loungers.

Have a good weekend!
 

Two out of three

Further to my Drier, sunnier and warmer post the week before last it’s thankfully been drier and, in the past couple of days, sunnier hence the title of this post.

However with a continuing brisk easterly wind it certainly hasn’t been any warmer with temperatures still hovering around zero once the wind chill has been taken into account.

Despite that I spent a couple of hours plotting on Friday and yesterday morning. It was okay whilst I was forking, hoeing or weeding but noticeably chilly when I stopped.

A few more crocuses and mini daffodils have appeared but although there are plenty of signs of spring it seems that everything is waiting for warmer weather.

My highlights in an otherwise mostly quiet week was seeing two goldfinches out front front at home perched on one of the lilac trees, and yesterday morning whilst walking round the allotments I saw, much to my surprise and delight, a charm of them!

The forecast for the coming week is the same – dry and plenty of sun but with the easterly wind keeping it much too cold for the time of year.

My Sofa flying post today celebrates A Joyous Easter with Brer Rabbit.

Have a good week!

My thanks, and more thanks

I was recently given this Very Inspiring Blogger Award by Pam over on her, always excellent, campaigning blog Plastic is rubbish.

She kindly said that when she’s away from home and missing her own lovely allotment she likes to potter on mine, and that a gentle ramble round always refreshes her.

My thanks go to her both for the award and her kind words.

I’ve not forgotten that I was also given this award by Karen, the Garden Smallholder,  last month as I mentioned in this post.

More thanks go to Jo over on The Good Life and Nikkipolani, and others, for thanking me for the pot marigold Flighty’s Favourites seeds that I sent them.  I hope that I didn’t forget anyone but if I did then my apologies, and if you’d like some of these seeds then please either leave a comment here or, if you prefer, email me via the Contact Me link at the top of the page under the header picture.

It’s been way too cold to do any plotting this week, and it looks like being sometime next week before I do more than have a quick look round.

Happy Easter!

Spring…

a poem by Brian H. Gent.

The month of March has come at last,

The worst of Winter now has passed,

But, until it’s really Spring,

March will have her final fling.

Rain must fall and winds must blow

Before we sharpen spade and hoe;

Nature needs no hand of man

To help her with her future plan.

Snowdrops bloom in wood and field,

Chill winds never made them yield,

Crocuses in drifts close by

Turn coloured faces to the sky.

Gorse and heather on the moor,

No wonder that our spirits soar,

To see their colourful display

Overcomes the dullest day.

Willows show a hint of green,

Waters still reflect the sheen;

So many signs to bring us cheer,

Now that another Spring is near.

Drier, sunnier and warmer

Despite it being rather chilly I’ve spent two mornings plotting. Yesterday I tidied and weeded in and around both clumps of crocosmia which was okay until I did the ones down at the bottom, south-west corner where it’s really soggy and the ground was like cold blancmange!

I also did my once yearly tidy up around and on the log pile, mostly cutting back or pulling up the rosebay willowherb stems that grow through the logs. This year I shall probably grow nasturtiums around most of this area.

Today I hoed and weeded all round so that now I’m waiting for drier, sunnier and warmer weather so that I can start planting and sowing. That won’t be for week or more as the forecast is for heavy rain, and some sleet, tonight and tomorrow night. There will also be a brisk easterly wind making it feel around zero through to at least Monday.

The first daffodils to bloom are some mini ones, no more than six inches high, so the best photo I could take of them is this unusual back view.

The perennial cornflower leaves only look frosty!

The log at the top, north-west corner is partly covered with grasses which I found are obscuring these ferns(?) growing on it.

Have a good weekend!

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This soggy Sunday

I received a nice summery thank you card during the week along with some seeds including a packet of wallflowers, erysimum cheiri Fire King, which are something I’ve not grown before. 

This soggy Sunday it was quiet at the horticultural society trading shed although I did meet Bonnie for the first time. She’s a lovely, and lively, rescue dog with an ever wagging tail and of course likes biscuits.

I bought a pelargonium Frank Headley which is something else that I’ve never grown before so I’ll be reading up how to look after it.

On the way home I had a quick look round the plot.  The long planter crocuses are providing a splash of colour but I’m wondering if I’ll get to see them open in the sunshine rather than closed in the rain.

They’re the varieties Golden Yellow and Jeanne d’Arc rather than the Blue Pearl and Cream Beauty that I thought I’d bought!   Never mind…

Have a good week!

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A few good days

Last week I spent three mornings plotting before it rained for a couple of days then turned bitterly cold until yesterday.

On the Monday I emptied the compost heap, which I then raked over the vegetable patches and dug in the following day. I dug up the original Michaelmas daisy, separated it and replanted most of it back in a slightly different area. I also gave a couple of good sized bits to plot neighbour George who had asked me for some last autumn when I mentioned I would be going it about now.  The smaller one I dug up and moved as I had decided that it was in the wrong place.  On the Wednesday I spent most of the morning just forking over the areas where I’ll be sowing or planting the broad beans, onions and first early potatoes.  Until I do that I’ll just be pottering, as I was this morning which was sunny.

The rhubarb, which I moved last autumn,  is now showing.

The first daffodil, a mini one just a few inches tall has flowered.

These tulips are doing okay. The wire basket was to keep the squirrels from digging the bulbs up and will be removed soon.

There are plenty of crocuses, including these purple and white ones, which the honey bees are homing in on.

Although today has been sunny it looks like later tomorrow through to early next week is going to be milder but wetter.

Have a good weekend!

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